Sensex,Nifty hit record high as US Fed signals end of rate hikes

The dovish tone from US Federal Reserve triggered a global rally that catapulted Indian equity benchmark to new highs on Thursday,with most sectoral indices closing in the green.At close, the Sensex was up 929.60 points or 1.34 percent at 70,514.20, and the Nifty was up 256.35 points or 1.23 percent at 21,182.70. The market breadth was in favour of gainers as around 1,851 shares advanced, 1,363 shares declined, and 86 shares unchanged.
Stocks and Sectors
Tech Mahindra, LTI Mindtree, Wipro, Infosys, and HCL Technologies were the top gainers on the Nifty. Realty stocks, too, surged on the prospect of rate cuts as Godrej Properties and DLF rose as much as 7 percent in Thursday's trade.
Broader market indices also zoomed, performing in-line with the headline indices. Nifty midcap 100 and Nifty smallcap 100 advanced 1.31 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, added 1.19 percent.Barring Nifty media, healthcare and consumer durables, which slipped marginally, all indices closed with gains. Nifty realty and Nifty IT were the biggest gainers, up 3.88 percent and 3.5 percent.
On 14 Dec'23,the Indian rupee closed stronger on Thursday but lagged behind its Asian peers that sharply rallied after the US Federal Reserve delivered a dovish hold on policy rates on Wednesday.
The rupee ended at 83.33 against the US dollar, up by 0.08 per cent compared to its close of 83.40 in the previous session.While the rupee had opened stronger at 83.2725, dollar demand from importers and oil companies ate into the local unit’s gains, traders said.
Experts Take
Market experts have recommended six stocks to buy for Thursday- Aurobindo Pharma, Eicher Motors, SBI, JSL, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Sheela Foam.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)